19th Southeastern Goodguys Nationals

One of the hardest things about putting on a great event is to have a great location, added to that, timing is everything. So with that said, how do you compete with one of the biggest shows in the country - SEMA? You move your event to the other side of the country and hold it a week before. I say compete, but when you think about it we are all in it together, right? If there was no SEMA, no Goodguys, no magazines, or even the Internet, would hot rodding be as big as it is? My personal opinion is no. Special events, social media, and even garage time gather us all with friends.

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So when the opportunity to travel across the country to the 19th Southeastern Goodguys Nationals I embraced it with open arms. And for North Carolina natives plus the neighboring states, the October 26-28 Goodguys show is a gateway to see all. I think about it like this, I'm not a truck guy; I'm not a hot rod guy, but rather a gearhead who wants to see cool stuff. So again I ask why would we want to travel and see a show that is so close to SEMA time? Because it is one of the biggest shows, coolest places to visit, and there's vehicles galore.

Goodguys holds the event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, and if you are any kind of motorsports fan, then you will know that any city with the Motor Speedway named attached to it is a big deal. Speaking of big, the Charlotte Motor Speedway track has one of the largest flat screen TV's I have ever seen. The speedway refers to the TV as the world's largest HD video board and I agree - it's huge. I just wish they still made drive-in theaters so we could have date nights with our hot rod trucks and watch movies on something like this. All weekend the autocross was going off with vendors showing off their products, and more importantly, tons of classic truck guys took to the track.

The show was packed with every kind of car and truck imaginable, and then some. If you are ever in the North Carolina area around Halloween I would suggest you take a look at this outstanding place to visit.

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01, 02 Rudy Zierden from Bridgeville, Pennsylvania, drove his cool '52 Ford F-1 to the show. We love the patina on this bad boy.

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03 Mr. Gibson from Albermarle, North Carolina, and his '70 F-100 were clean as they get.

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04, 05 Richard Green from Westminster, Maryland, drove his cool '64 Ford on the track. His monster of a truck is powered by a huge 460 big-block and C6 transmission. Talk about a sleeper.

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06, 07 Have you ever wanted to take your entire family for a ride in a classic truck? If you owned Greg and Guyla Kepley's '68 Suburban you could. What a nice people hauler.

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08, 09 Danny Auman from High Point, North Carolina, rolled in with his '66 C10 powered by a 502 big-block.

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10, 11, 12 This truck struck my eye as something different and I almost walked right past it. But when I stopped and looked at the details it blew me away. Nice job on the '52 F-1 Chuck Greene from Rock Hill, South Carolina.

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13 When I said it wasn't about being a truck guy, this is what I meant. Check out the young couple cheering on the trailer. Now that's a memory that will not go away.

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14 Cool to see the truck guys getting in on the action. A huge thanks is in order to Goodguys and the Charlotte Motor Speedway for letting the rookie drivers on the track.

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15 Brad Granger and his '65 C10 truck is going to be on a new TV show "Faster Than a Redneck." All weekend long Brad was flogging his C10 around the autocross track. He also tried to butt in on my photo shoot that was in progress by nosing his truck into frame. Nice try Brad.

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16, 17 Robert and Carol Wymart from Madison, Alabama, came to show their '55 Chevy truck powered by a '96 Corvette LT1 V-8.

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18 Not sure if this vintage-looking go-kart was frowned upon, but I cant stop thinking about how cool it would be to own it.

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19, 20 Billy Stafford from Thomasville, North Carolina, and his LS1-powered '66 Chevy. Billy's truck had a cool stance, some nice wheels, and a disc brake upgrade.

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21 Here's Allan Vallandingham from Rockwell, North Carolina, taking his '64 C10 for a few runs around the autocross track. I sat and watched this lowered truck go around and was surprised by how well it did.

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22, 23 Charles Penney from Riverhead, New York, had a Fatman frontend with a parallel four-bar rear suspension holding up his '51 Chevy.

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24 Ben Farmer had a '67 Ford F-100 that was slammed to the ground. On the Goodguys name tag it said it was riding on coilovers only. NO AIRBAGS!

26, 27 One of the sleekest trucks that I have seen in a while was Mike Holleman's from Morehead City, North Carolina. This truck was not only blacked out from top to bottom; it was powered by an LS2.

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28, 29 Rick Neugen's '54 F-100 was painted orange to match his favorite restaurant. On the door he had a hot rodish shop logo that read "Hootersville." The seat was a really nice white leather with matching door panels.